Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reinventing education while making discovering more accessible but likewise stimulating disputes on its effect.

While trainees hail AI tools like ChatGPT for improving their learning experience, lecturers are raising issues about the growing reliance on AI, which they argue fosters laziness and undermines scholastic integrity, specifically with numerous students not able to protect their projects or given works.

Prof. Isaac Nwaogwugwu, a speaker at the University of Lagos, in an interview with Nairametrics, expressed frustration over the growing dependence on AI-generated reactions amongst trainees stating a recent experience he had.

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"I provided a task to my MBA students, and out of over 100 trainees, about 40% submitted the specific same responses. These trainees did not even understand each other, however they all used the very same AI tool to produce their reactions," he stated.

He kept in mind that this pattern is prevalent amongst both undergraduate and postgraduate trainees but is especially concerning in part-time and range knowing programs.

"AI is a serious difficulty when it pertains to projects. Many students no longer believe critically-they just go on the internet, create answers, and send," he included.

Surprisingly, some speakers are likewise accused of over-relying on AI, setting a cycle where both teachers and trainees turn to AI for convenience rather than intellectual rigor.

This debate raises vital questions about the role of AI in academic integrity and student advancement.

According to a UNESCO report, while ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly active users in January 2023, demo.qkseo.in only one country had actually released policies on generative AI since July 2023.

Since December 2024, ChatGPT had more than 300 million people using the AI chatbot each week and 1 billion messages sent out every day around the world.

Decline of scholastic rigor

University speakers are progressively concerned about students sending AI-generated tasks without genuinely understanding the content.

Dr. Felix Echekoba, a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, revealed his issues to Nairametrics about trainees progressively counting on ChatGPT, only to fight with answering basic concerns when checked.

"Many students copy from ChatGPT and send refined tasks, however when asked standard concerns, they go blank. It's frustrating since education has to do with learning, not simply passing courses," he stated.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu mentioned that the increasing number of first-class graduates can not be totally attributed to AI but admitted that even high-performing trainees utilize these tools.


"A superior student is a first-class trainee, AI or not, but that does not indicate they don't cheat. The advantages of AI may be peripheral, however it is making trainees reliant and less analytical," he stated.

- Another speaker, Dr. Ereke, from Ebonyi State University, raised a different concern that some lecturers themselves are guilty of the exact same practice.


"It's not simply students utilizing AI lazily. Some lecturers, out of their own laziness, create lesson notes, course details, marking plans, and even test concerns with AI without evaluating them. Students in turn use AI to generate answers. It's a cycle of laziness and it is eliminating genuine learning," he lamented.

Students' point of views on usage

Students, on the other hand, say AI has actually improved their learning experience by making scholastic materials more easy to understand and available.

- Eniola Arowosafe, a 300-level Business Administration trainee at Unilag, shared how AI has substantially helped her learning by breaking down complex terms and providing summaries of prolonged texts.


"AI helped me understand things more quickly, especially when handling complicated topics," she explained.

However, she remembered a circumstances when she used AI to submit her task, only for her speaker to right away acknowledge that it was produced by ChatGPT and decline it. Eniola kept in mind that it was a good-bad effect.

- Bryan Okwuba, who just recently graduated with a first-class degree in Pharmacy Technology from the University of Lagos, firmly thinks that his academic success wasn't due to any AI tool. He attributes his exceptional grades to actively appealing by asking questions and focusing on locations that lecturers highlight in class, as they are often shown in examination questions.


"It's everything about being present, focusing, and taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge shared by my colleagues," he said,

- Tunde Awoshita, a final-year marketing student at UNIZIK, admits to sometimes copying directly from ChatGPT when facing numerous due dates.


"To be sincere, there are times I copy straight from ChatGPT when I have several due dates, and I know I'm guilty of that, most times the lecturers do not get to go through them, however AI has actually likewise assisted me learn much faster."

Balancing AI's role in education

Experts believe the solution lies in AI literacy; mentor students and speakers how to utilize AI as a learning help rather than a shortcut.

- Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, highlighted the combination of AI into Nigeria's education system, stressing the value of a well balanced method that maintains human participation while harnessing AI to enhance finding out outcomes.


"As we browse the quickly evolving landscape of Expert system (AI), it is crucial that we prioritise human company in education. We need to make sure that AI improves, rather than replaces, teachers' essential role in forming young minds," he stated

Concerns over AI in Learning

Dorcas Akintade, a cybersecurity transformation specialist, dealt with growing concerns concerning making use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT and their prospective risks to the instructional system.

- She acknowledged the benefits of AI, nevertheless, highlighted the requirement for caution in its usage.

- Akintade highlighted the increasing resistance amongst teachers and schools toward including AI tools in discovering environments. She determined 2 main factors why AI tools are discouraged in educational settings: security threats and plagiarism. She discussed that AI tools like ChatGPT are trained to react based on user interactions, which might not line up with the expectations of educators.


"It is not taking a look at it as a tutor," Akintade stated, discussing that AI doesn't deal with specific teaching methods.

Plagiarism is another issue, as AI pulls from existing data, drapia.org typically without appropriate attribution

"A lot of individuals need to comprehend, like I stated, this is data that has been trained on. It is not just bringing things out from the sky. It's bringing details that some other people are fed into it, which in essence means that is another person's documentation," she cautioned.

- Additionally, Akintade highlighted an early concern in AI development understood as "hallucination," where AI tools would create information that was not factual.


"Hallucination implied that it was bringing out details from the air. If ChatGPT might not get that info from you, it was going to make one up," she discussed.

She recommended "grounding" AI by providing it with specific info to prevent such errors.

Navigating AI in Education

Akintade argued that prohibiting AI tools outright is not the service, especially when AI presents an opportunity to leapfrog standard instructional approaches.

- She believes that consistently reinforcing key details helps people keep in mind and prevent making errors when faced with challenges.


"Immersion brings conversion. When you inform individuals the very same thing over and over once again, when they will make the errors, then they'll keep in mind."

She also empasized the requirement for clear policies and treatments within schools, keeping in mind that lots of schools must address individuals and procedure aspects of this usage.

- Prof. Nwaogwugwu has turned to in-class assignments and tests to counter AI-driven academic dishonesty.


"Now, I primarily utilize assignments to guarantee students supply original work." However, he acknowledged that handling big classes makes this approach hard.

"If you set complicated concerns, trainees will not have the ability to use AI to get direct answers," he discussed.

He emphasized the requirement for universities to train speakers on crafting test questions that AI can not easily resolve while acknowledging that some lecturers battle to counter AI abuse due to a lack of technological awareness. "Some lecturers are analogue," he stated.

- Nigeria released a draft National AI Strategy in August 2024, focusing on ethical AI development with fairness, transparency, responsibility, and personal privacy at its core.

- UNESCO in a report requires the guideline of AI in education, recommending institutions to investigate algorithms, data, and outputs of generative AI tools to ensure they fulfill ethical standards, safeguard user information, and filter unsuitable material.

- It worries the requirement to examine the long-term effect of AI on crucial abilities like thinking and imagination while creating policies that line up with ethical frameworks. Additionally, UNESCO suggests executing age constraints for GenAI use to safeguard younger trainees and protect vulnerable groups.
- For governments, it encouraged embracing a coordinated national technique to managing GenAI, including developing oversight bodies and lining up policies with existing data protection and personal privacy laws. It stresses examining AI threats, forum.kepri.bawaslu.go.id enforcing more stringent rules for high-risk applications, and guaranteeing national data ownership.